Speech: What I'm Going To Convince You Of

**This was written for Toastmasters

Good evening fellow Toastmasters and honored guests,

Before I start convincing you all of anything, let me ask you a few questions. How many of you have had your husband or wife, or mother or sister or brother, tell you to: Lose Weight, or Get Organized, or Quit Smoking Or Spend Less Money [Look around for nods] The thing is, telling people what to do… never really works. Of course that doesn't keep most of us from doing it anyway, even me. But there's a difference in my case, and that is that I have a sister, who, giving me some unsolicited advice, told me that no one wants to hear, unsolicited advice. She's right of course, so, when I do give advice, I preface it with a little disclaimer: [change voice tone] "I don't believe in giving unsolicited advice, but I just need to tell you this onnne thing…"

That being said, I couldn't think of a darn thing that I care to convince you of. Sure, there are a lot of things that work well for me, but that's me. Instead, I want to see if we can discover together what is important to you, and I'll let you convince yourself… or not. What I want to do is to be quiet and see if you can hear your own inner voice. It might be tough at first, because here we are at the YMCA, with fluorescent lights and some of us thinking about dinner and who knows what else. But I believe that even here, there is a little spirit present. Now I don't care if you call it God, or Goddess, or Buhda, or whatever; it's all the same thing anyway. Whether your religious background is eastern, western, or somewhere in between, the voice of spirit is heard in the quiet moments, when you stop doing stuff. Stop writing. Stop thinking. Stop planning for the next thing, which I know you are all doing right now, because groups like Toastmasters attract people who like structure.

What I want to convince you of, is that spirit is here too. Not just in beautiful places like church or temple. Not just in mountains and beaches where my mother found it. Not just in music or art or poetry. Spirit can be heard even in circumstances that seem kind of on the dry side, like this room. Will you give me two minutes to try? [pause]

OK then. Please relax in your chair, and close your eyes. Go ahead, I promise I won't do anything strange! And when we're done, which will only be in a minute or so, I'll tell you. Close your eyes, OK? [pause] Now, just for this minute, forget about the fact that I'm doing a speech and you're evaluating it. (Well, that's everyone except Gregg who HAS to evaluate me) Take deep slow breaths and let go of all the things cluttering your mind. [SLOW DOWN] Close your eyes and hear the breathing of the person next to you. Rest for a moment and feel the warmth of the heat on your skin. Smell the perfume in the air. Feel what your fingers are touching, maybe fabric or paper or the cool of the table. Hear the voices, faded, from the other rooms. Just sit still and see if you can let all these things in this room pass through you. These things are spirit. They are spirit because we are all alive right here and now. Even if you are an atheist or an agnostic, that magic can be felt when you slow down for a moment. And when you open your eyes with me, only a minute or two will have passed. [long pause] Now… Listen… and keep your eyes closed, NO peeking! [wait 20 seconds]

Do you feel it? Isn't it nice to have just one minute of peace? Please open your eyes and join me again. I appreciate your going along with me. The thing I want to convince you of, is that the answers to your questions are within you. They might be little questions like where should I park, or big ones like, "should I move back to Vermont?" And the answers might come from deep inside yourself, or from a spiritual source, something which is not always clear. Regardless the best way to hear that voice is by being quiet just for a little bit. That still, small voice is with you every moment of the day, even though it may be sometimes drowned out by the hustle and bustle of life. I encourage you to occasionally stop what you are doing, and listen to that voice. It will tell you what's the right thing for you, and then, no one will have to convince you of anything!

Copyright January, 1999